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Thanks so much Ruth for your answer. I am just wondering what the point of these 2 rules is, specifically for UK nationals, as they obviously are currently working in England if they want to do an apprenticeship, whether or not they lived abroad for a number of years seems irrelevant. Like my husband lived overseas for 10 years. All his mails were posted to his parents'. He could say he didn't intend to live overseas permanently (and we did move back).
You're right, people can say what they like! If they maintained a bank account and address here, we'd never know. My thoughts are that, if we know the person had planned to move overseas permanently, then decided to come back less than 3 years ago, we'd be obliged not to fund.
Thao Nguyen
Learner on working holiday visa in NZ - eligible for funding
Created
Happy Friyay everyone,
We have contacted the Apprenticeship Helpdesk, but just received non-answers which are very vague and don't really answer what we asked specifically. We have a learner who was in NZ for one year from Jan 2023 to Jan 2024. He is British. I have looked at the funding rules, but these 2 clauses which the Helpdesk cited in their reply are really vague:
Page 115:
"293. Learners who are temporarily outside of the UK for reasons such as education, employment or a gap year, should be considered ordinarily resident in the UK for the purposes of assessing eligibility for apprenticeship funding upon their return to the UK." - This refers to a short-term period in which they are outside the UK, so long as they are within the criteria stated.
"295. UK nationals or other persons with a right of abode have an eligible residency status if they have been ordinarily resident in the UK or the British Overseas Territories, or the Crown Dependencies (Channel Islands and Isle of Man) for at least the previous 3 years on the first day of the apprenticeship."
I queried them what is considered "temporary" or how long is considered "temporary" or what evidence we need to show (We have a copy of the learner's work holiday visa). They replied citing point 295 again without saying specifically whether our learner is eligible or not.
Please could you let us know if this learner is eligible? Thanks so much!